


Dying Words

by CuddlyHawk



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accusation, Blood, Emotional pain, Gen, Gore, Guts - Freeform, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Klance if you squint, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Whump, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Langst, Oblivious, Protective Shiro (Voltron), Shallura if you squint, explicit injury, hurtful words, klance, shallura - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-09 18:08:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10418094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuddlyHawk/pseuds/CuddlyHawk
Summary: "Why can't you just follow directions?!" "You're being ridiculous by not answering." "He's probably just flirting with some alien like he always does."Lance never thought angry words from his team would be the last he ever heard.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Langst Prompts](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/278910) by PromptsForVoltron. 



> Edit 3/25/17:  
> I'll tell you what, everyone. If we can get this terrible thing to **200 kudos** , then I will write the team's reactions, as requested MANY times. So there will be no need to start a riot *eyes some of you*, and we'll get to see the reactions, but I'll only work on it AFTER I get 200 kudos. Deal?

Hazy darkness…

…shadows…

…voices…

Slowly, slowly…words become clear to Lance. Someone’s talking to him.

No…not someONE. Multiple people. Lance shakes his head, wincing at the harsh sting that sends his eyesight blurry once more. He blinks his eyes open again, and takes in his surroundings. He’s inside Blue. He’s lying flat on the floor, and looking outside, he can see the vast expanse of space whizzing by him. So he’s traveling somewhere. What were they doing? He and the other paladins, were they on a mission?

As Lance tries to sit up, a fiery sensation shoots up his side, causing his breath to catch and he grits his teeth as he tries to ride the pain out. After feeling his heartbeat deep in his side finally subside somewhat, he glances down and feels his head spin.

There’s a huge gash splitting his stomach open. It starts just above his navel and swipes upward to the right to end just below his armpit. His space suit is completely shredded and smothered in blood. A vague thought crosses his mind. He won’t be able to fix this like he’d fixed holes in his suit before… He winces when the wound gives another warning throb. The sitting-up movement he made earlier had caused it to open again, and whatever had attempted to scab over is already torn open and it is bleeding freely. Lance is seeing double, but he can swear that he can see a bit of some kind of organ poking slightly out of his stomach. His throat closes and if he wasn’t watching his stomach as it bulged out of his body, he would have sworn that it literally turned inside out with how sick he suddenly feels. But he doesn’t have the energy to even try to dry heave. Instead, he weakly lifts a hand and attempts to coordinate it to press to his side, trying his best to hold in his organs. But nothing seems to be listening to him, and it takes a few minutes before he can get his hand properly in place.

The voices are coming back to him, and he focuses on them. There’s nothing he can do for his side at the moment, might as well find out what happened. Maybe someone knows how hurt he is, and they’re rushing back to the castle.

_"…see th…?"_

_"…ac… …the c…tle."_

_"Sou…mee… Last…ro…!"_

Lance winces and closes his eyes, trying his best to focus on his team. The static in his helmet isn’t that bad, but with the blood roaring in his ears, he can’t catch everything they are saying. He opens his mouth, but chokes as copper taste fills his mouth. He can’t swallow it and just lets his mouth fall open as he pants for breath, feeling the metallic warmth dribbling down his chin. He squeezes his eyes closed and presses his head against the thick leg of the pilot's chair, trying to calm his heart and force his overworked brain to focus.

 _"…ould have been back by now, I’m getting worried."_ Who is that?

 _"It’s fine, he’s probably just taking his sweet time like he always does."_ Pidge?

 _"Or he’s flirting with the locals."_ Keith.

 _"That too."_ Shiro.

Wait…are they talking about him? Lance hisses softly and weakly tries to ask them what happened. But his breath refuses to work for anything other than breathing right now. He can’t cry out, can’t call for help, can’t even ask what happened. All he can do is pant breathlessly as his vision swims dangerously ahead of him. Good thing Blue is in control, because Lance knows he wouldn’t be able to pilot her on his own right now.

He hears Hunk chuckle. _"He does have a way with the ladies, I’m sure he’ll be back before dinner. He needs his beauty rest, as you all know."_

 _"Oh man, he would always hog the bathroom in the morning!"_ Pidge sounds almost in shock, but with humor underlying the incredulous tone. _"I don’t even take that long! He nearly made me late to class more than once."_

 _"He needs to be more serious. Running off all the time and not listening to the rest of the team puts all of us in jeopardy."_ Shiro doesn’t sound happy, and Lance has a feeling that he’ll get a good reprimand when he gets back to the castle for what he’s done. Whatever that is.

Keith lets out an exasperated groan. _"Lance, come on stop messing around, what are you doing?"_ Lance’s heart clenches. They don’t know? No, they couldn’t know if they were saying this stuff. He squints outside his lion. Where exactly are they? He can see space, so they’re not on any planet. But he can’t see the castle or any of the other lions. Since he can hear them though, that means they’re not too far away. Lance knows that. So he knows he’s not captured. But what is Blue doing? Where are they going?

A low hum answers him, and he feels his mind be put at ease. Blue continues to purr at him gently, almost lulling him to sleep. He’s so tired. But Shiro’s voice breaks him from his dream-like state. _"Lance, if you can hear me, I hope you know that you’re being beyond ridiculous. Why can’t you just follow orders?"_

…ouch.

Lance can’t feel the cut in his side, but a spike of pain shoots through his heart at the words. He didn’t mean to not follow orders, he can’t even remember what he did to separate from the team. But the accusation and venom in Shiro’s voice cuts deeper than the injury in Lance’s side. He chokes out a cough, grimacing when he feels a flash of heat fill him, and more blood oozing from between his fingers. Surely Shiro doesn’t mean it. He can’t possibly mean it.

 _"Is Lance not answering you?"_ Allura’s static-y voice comes to him, and Lance feels his eyes fill with tears. He closes his eyes. Everything is blurry anyway.

 _"No, he’s probably busy,"_ Hunk answers slowly. Concern and a bit of annoyance in his words.

Keith snorts. _"Guess I’m better at following directions than you, huh Lance?"_ He says it with a teasing tone, knowing how Lance always rises to the bait. Lance gurgles softly in retort, the blood in the back of his throat preventing him from speaking words.

Allura sighs. _"Coran, track the blue lion’s position…"_ After a tick, she continues, _"Paladins, he appears to be in orbit on the opposite side of the planet. He’s moving, the blue lion has her thrusters engaged. Maybe a few of you can go get him? We don’t have time to wait, and I don’t…he’s…"_

Lance’s mind fogs and he can’t focus anymore through the rushing sound in his ears. His side is throbbing painfully and he can’t keep ignoring it. He vaguely realizes that he’s been in shock, with how numb his body has been up until now. But looking down, he realizes he’s lost a lot of blood. It coats the bottom of the cockpit of the blue lion, turning it a nasty dark red color, and a pungent smell of copper makes him feel like gagging. His body is swimming, floating and trembling and drifting in nothingness. He can’t feel the metal floor under him anymore. He can’t hear the voices over the comm anymore.

He can’t feel the injury in his side anymore.

He can’t feel…

…he can’t…

 _I’m sorry…_ He pleads in his mind, unaware of the tears that are streaming down his cheeks. _I’m so sorry I failed you all. I’m sorry I was such a bad paladin. I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything right or listen to directions… At least you don’t…have to worry about me…messing up…anything…anymore… …_

And with this final thought, Lance slips into cold darkness.


	2. Reactions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As promised for the 200 kudos mark, here's the team's reactions.

_"…He’s moving, the blue lion has her thrusters engaged. Maybe a few of you can go get him? We don’t have time to wait, and I don’t know what he’s doing out there."_ Allura is beyond frustrated. Shiro can hear it in her voice. They all know the time crunch they’re in, and Lance—being Lance—always manages to find a way to delay them in some way or another. Sometimes, Shiro wonders if Lance is really fit to be a paladin…

Of course he does his best not to let his bias get in the way. Everyone can learn and grow, and he knows Lance has potential. He just needs a few reminders every now and then.

A crackle of static on the comms tells them that Lance still isn’t answering.

Okay, maybe he needs a lot of reminders. He’s a paladin; he can’t always be running off and abandoning his team like this. What is he, a toddler? They have to go get him and take him by the hand and lead him back to the castle. It’s humiliating. Shiro is already creating the lecture in his head. About responsibility and communication and about acting appropriately. The wellbeing of the team is more important than any one of them. Lance can’t always be thinking of himself, and running off whenever he feels like it.

Looking up, Shiro notices the red lion flying next to him. Hunk and Pidge must have opted to go back to the castle, since it would only require one, maybe two, lions to drag Lance back to the castle.

_"I don’t like this,"_ Keith says tersely in Shiro’s ear. _"He always at least answers, even if it’s with some snarky reply."_ While Shiro hates to admit it, at Keith’s words a knot forms in his stomach. He’s right; something is wrong.

"Lance, answer us. Now." Shiro adopts his 'leader voice' and enunciates clearly. But there’s silence from the blue lion. He’s about to open his mouth, but Shiro goes quiet when Black starts a keening whine deep in his mind. And a burst of ache fills Shiro’s chest. He blinks in confusion. Is his lion hurt? What’s Black trying to tell him? He closes his eyes and reaches out, trying to comfort his distraught lion, and a flash of blue crosses his mind. Black isn’t hurt. He’s…mourning? Is Blue hurt?

As they get closer, Blue rotates where she floats. Her thrusters have faded away, leaving her floating aimlessly, slowly orbiting the planet. Shiro’s breath catches in his throat when he sees the huge scorch mark on the side of Blue. It covers her entire side, from muzzle to rump, deforming the entire side. And she’s still smoking slightly. The lights in her eyes are dimmed and there’s no response from the cockpit.

Lance had been hit. By something big, it seems. Shiro thinks back through the fight, though it’s hard with the amount of adrenaline he had been working with screwing with his thoughts. When was the last time he saw Lance? What were they doing? They had formed Voltron, then they separated. And they all went in different directions. Shiro stayed close to the castle. And Lance—

_"The ion cannon."_ Keith realizes quietly. _"The galra were charging up an ion cannon aimed toward the castle, and Lance saw it first. He and I were fighting together and he yelled at me to protect the planet inhabitants, while he rocketed away. Next I knew, there was a flash of bright light…"_ He goes quiet.

Shiro listens, and waits for the rest of the story. "And then?" He prompts when Keith seems to be done.

_"I don’t know. I blacked out for a second, and all I saw was galra when I came back, so I forgot about Lance for a bit. I just saw you guys fighting and I joined in. I completely forgot what he had done until now."_ Keith sounds beyond regretful.

From somewhere in the castle, the two hear Pidge’s gasp of realization. _"So he saved the castle. Because after that bright light—which wasn’t really a light, but a BLAST that Lance and Blue must have taken—from the ion cannon, the galra started to retreat."_

Keith makes a distressed noise, and pushes Red to go faster. Finally, he reaches Blue, and uses Red to catch the blue paladin and his lion, and he suddenly emerges from the cockpit of Red. Shiro frowns. "Keith, what are you doing?"

_"Shiro, something’s_ wrong _. I need to find out what."_ And his jet pack pushes him the few feet to reach Blue’s mouth. He pets her mouth gently, trying to make a connection as quickly as he can. But Blue seems to know that Keith is here to help, because with a weak whine, she opens her mouth ever so slightly for Keith, and then the red paladin disappears inside. Shiro watches, half trying to convince himself that there’s nothing wrong. But the other half is beyond worried. It takes a total of seven seconds for Shiro’s uncertainty to drop to rock bottom, and for everything to screech to a halt in his mind. And all it takes are two words from Keith. _"…oh shit…"_

Usually, Shiro would reprimand him for his language, but the tone that Keith says it in means that something is horribly wrong. Before he knows what he’s doing, Shiro is outside his lion, sliding into the small gap in Blue’s mouth. And when he gets into the cockpit, his stomach roils miserably.

First thing he notices is the blood on the walls. It’s thick and smeared, like someone had been thrown around carelessly. His eyes travel down to the floor and control panel. Everything is smeared in quickly-drying blood. Some already tacky, some still damp. But the worst is the huge puddle of it right under the pilot’s chair. And that’s where Shiro finds Keith, eyes wide, hands hovering over Lance like he’s afraid to touch him, with Lance’s head on Keith’s lap.

In a dream, Shiro walks toward them, trying to ignore the way his shoes squelch under him with how thick the blood gets. He kneels down next to them, taking in Lance’s prone form. He quickly notices the huge gash in Lance’s side, and how pale he’s become. Completely on autopilot, Shiro reaches two fingers out and presses them under Lance’s jaw, feeling for a pulse. When he feels nothing, his heart jumps to his throat, and he adjusts his fingers, pressing harder as he looks, and he leans down, listening for any kind of breath from the blue paladin.

Keith is oddly quiet above him, and when Shiro leans back, worry etched on his features, he realizes why Keith is so silent. In a swift motion, Keith pulls off his helmet and turns a pale face away from Shiro, retching to his side. He chokes on half-formed sobs, and once he’s done gagging, he begins hiccuping out miserable sobs. Keith curls closer to Lance’s body, wrapping his arms around his chest and pulling him closer while burying his tearstained face into Lance’s sticky hair.

Finally coming out of his stupor, Shiro blinks and reaches a hand up to press against Keith’s back. With his other, he keeps his fingers pressed to Lance’s neck. Just in case. "A…Allura," he says, swallowing the frog in his throat. "I think…we’ll need to stop by Earth."

_"Why’s that? What’s wrong?"_ Shiro barks out an involuntary laugh, his face twisted in agony and loss.

"We…" He’s not sure how to say this. Not sure how to break it to the team. "Lance was a great paladin. The best sharpshooter I’ve ever met."

There’s silence, save for Keith’s stifled crying.

_"…what…?"_ Hunk sounds so small. If Shiro didn’t know how big Hunk was, he would have assumed that he was a small child with how meek he suddenly seems. _"What do you mean, what hap—?"_

_"We’re on our way,"_ Pidge interrupts, and Shiro can hear shuffling as the two paladins rush back to their lions and begin flying toward them at top speed.

Shiro looks back down at Keith and Lance. Lance has stopped bleeding, but Shiro knows it’s only because his heart isn’t beating to pump the blood out of his body. Besides, there’s so much blood on the walls and coating the floor, Shiro isn’t sure how much more blood Lance could have inside him.

He balks at the sudden morbid thought. How dare he think something so uncaring and detached? He blinks and looks more closely down at Lance. He’s frighteningly still. It’s so weird to see the usually-energetic teen so motionless and limp. Even in sleep, Lance always made sure he was comfortable to some degree. But now…

Whispers repeat in Shiro’s mind, and for a second he wonders if it’s his PTSD coming back to him from being on the galra ship, seeing death so often. But no, his mind allows him to stay engaged. And he realizes the voice is coming from Keith. Over and over, he murmurs, "I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Lance, please forgive me, I’m sorry I doubted you. I’m so sorry…" into Lance’s hair.

Shiro gives Keith’s shoulder a small squeeze, trying to keep his own guilt and pain at bay. He doubted Lance. He had put him down and assumed the worst. He jumped to conclusions before knowing all the details. He had let his bias get in the way.

But no, Lance was beyond deserving of his trust. Hadn’t he earned it from the beginning? When Allura assigned them to their lions, shouldn’t Shiro have trusted him right then? Or during the bonding exercises. Or during the battles they’ve fought, side by side. Guess not, Shiro realizes. He never truly trusted Lance. And yet Lance had looked up to him, trusted him, and now? He gave his life for them. Shiro had horribly mistaken the blue paladin. He was very well aware that the life of one wasn’t worth the life of the rest. And Lance had given his life away just so the others could live. Not for fame or glory, unlike what he always boasted about. It only occurs to Shiro now, as he looks around the room and sees Lance’s pain and agony painted on the walls. He didn’t do this for glory. He didn’t even get a chance to tell them what he was doing. He just did it because he wanted to save his friends and the planet they were fighting for.

He had horribly misjudged him.

Feeling hot tears filling his own eyes, Shiro grits his teeth and takes Lance’s clammy hand in his own. Anger and sadness fill him, and he’s not sure who he wants to be angry at. The galra for trying to kill everyone, Lance for running off and killing himself to save them, or himself for assuming the worst when Lance was nowhere to be found.

With his head bowed and a loud ringing in his ears, Shiro doesn’t notice the gasp of surprise and pain behind him until Hunk and Pidge are kneeling next to them. Keith doesn’t let go of Lance, but he’s stopped crying and seems to be staring off into nothingness, an expressionless mask expertly covering his face. His grip doesn’t lessen on Lance however, even when Pidge tries to offer the idea of possibly reviving him. No one latches onto the idea. They all know he’s too far gone. The injury is beyond serious. And he’s been bleeding out for who knows how long. And they all sat and wasted time accusing him of doing it on purpose, making them slow and dragging them behind.

Hunk sniffles loudly. "I didn’t even get to say goodbye…"

The sudden ache and weight on all of them suddenly becomes obvious, as their last words to the blue paladin come to them in painful blows. Shiro winces, realizing he had not only doubted Lance, but he had vocalized it. Who knows when Lance had blacked out. He could have heard everything they said, or he could have already been gone. But judging from how warm he was when he and Keith first got here, to now… Shiro’s almost sure that Lance heard almost all, if not all, of what they had said. From Keith’s taunts, to Pidge’s gripes about the bathroom, to Hunk’s jab about needing beauty sleep, to Shiro’s frustration at his lack of response.

Soon, all of them are murmuring their apologies to the figure slumped in Keith’s lap. All of them are kneeling in the dark red substance on the bottom of the cockpit. All of them are so engulfed in grief and shame, apologizing and trying their best to make things right.

Shiro hears movement behind him again, and when he looks up and sees Allura and Coran, he realizes they must have brought the lions inside the castle. A vague thought of how vulnerable they are crosses Shiro’s mind, but it quickly fades. Now isn’t the time to be thinking of tactical things. Their friend and fellow paladin—a member of their family—has been killed. They are allowed time to mourn.

Allura’s hand on his back makes Shiro look up at her with damp eyes, and he realizes that she has tears in her eyes as well. Coran is standing behind her, unable to look at Lance, with a hand clamped firmly over his mouth to muffle his grief. Out of all the paladins, he had always felt connected with Lance the most. He considered him a son. Lance had saved his life. Twice now. And yet he can’t even bear to look at him for more than a few ticks at a time.

All the paladins’ heads are bowed and quiet, soft sniffles the only thing to be heard in the small space.

Allura breaks the silence with a quiet order to Coran, one hand still on Shiro’s back, like she needs it to ground her. "Set a course for Earth. We must allow Lance to be put to rest at his home."

With a silent nod, Coran steps out of the cockpit. Allura stays a moment longer, eyes lingering on Lance, before she too leaves the blue lion. Shiro watches them leave, and looks back at Lance, finally removing his hand from Lance’s cold neck. He had forgotten he left it there.

The sudden movement as the ship starts to fly off knocks them all out of their thoughts. This is real. This is really happening.

Lance is gone.

But at least they will be able to have a real funeral for him, back on earth where he belongs. They know it’s what he would have wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt:  
> -Lance dies to save everyone else but they don’t know he’s dead and they’re all complaining over the comms like, “ugh, Lance why can’t you ever listen, we’ve been calling you back for the past 10 min” and “you were supposed to be over here?? Can’t you do anything right” and so that’s the last things he hears


End file.
